“In 2011, more than half of computing devices sold globally will not be PCs,” the report (PDF) indicates. “While PC sales are likely to reach almost 400 million units, Deloitte’s estimate for combined sales of smartphones, tablets and non-PC netbooks is well over that amount.”

So yeah. You may think this shit isn't coming, and that things are going to stay the same as they are. But the future is you can do the computer thing from anywhere at anytime, and you won't be chained down to a desk at your house for it.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:52 pm

laurapalmer

Joined: 10 Jul 2002
Posts: 1477

I am running Amazon Cloud Drive right now with the Cloud Player bumping while I type. I was pro-dropbox and this is going to replace it by Saturday for me.

Thus far the interface, syncing, and up and down times are flawless and I plan to run this on my Droid X tomorrow and see how it is.

I had already given up on USB drives and gone to dropbox, so this is a big plus that I will dump it all in there. I even broke down and bought a 5.99 album, and thus, have the 20 GB for a year.

As far as licensing and sharing, you should be able to share as Amazon runs their store DRM free.

I still buy vinyl (like the SFR store pre-order of the new Atmosphere) and am unlikely to buy much digital shit but on the flip side, I will happily send my free downloads with vinyl purchase to the cloud and bump them as well as my disgusting volume of free mixtapes that I grab and downloads from Bandcamp and Soundcloud. While those things will probably be out there at any point, on the off chance they are removed I would prefer to have what I like saved.

Maybe this is an age thing, but I view iPods as a hunk of junk. Or a zune, or a walkmen or whatever. I see no reason why I would have a separate player, when I can store 6-8 GBs on my phone for when I can't get a connection, and rock a connection and listen to everything any other time. As for the car, I run my phone in through the Aux jack-done. Why have an iPod when I can do all the same shit with my phone...and have a phone...and a browser, etc? I am not anti-Apple, I own a Macbook and a Dell, but really...don't see the point of a separate iPod. But, this probably depends on how you listen to stuff, because I mostly listen in transit or at work, and in both cases, I have a connection.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 6:25 pm

squirtisblow

Joined: 12 Mar 2003
Posts: 1589
Location: SFV

laurapalmer wrote: I am running Amazon Cloud Drive right now with the Cloud Player bumping while I type. I was pro-dropbox and this is going to replace it by Saturday for me.

Thus far the interface, syncing, and up and down times are flawless and I plan to run this on my Droid X tomorrow and see how it is.

I had already given up on USB drives and gone to dropbox, so this is a big plus that I will dump it all in there. I even broke down and bought a 5.99 album, and thus, have the 20 GB for a year.

As far as licensing and sharing, you should be able to share as Amazon runs their store DRM free.

I still buy vinyl (like the SFR store pre-order of the new Atmosphere) and am unlikely to buy much digital shit but on the flip side, I will happily send my free downloads with vinyl purchase to the cloud and bump them as well as my disgusting volume of free mixtapes that I grab and downloads from Bandcamp and Soundcloud. While those things will probably be out there at any point, on the off chance they are removed I would prefer to have what I like saved.

Maybe this is an age thing, but I view iPods as a hunk of junk. Or a zune, or a walkmen or whatever. I see no reason why I would have a separate player, when I can store 6-8 GBs on my phone for when I can't get a connection, and rock a connection and listen to everything any other time. As for the car, I run my phone in through the Aux jack-done. Why have an iPod when I can do all the same shit with my phone...and have a phone...and a browser, etc? I am not anti-Apple, I own a Macbook and a Dell, but really...don't see the point of a separate iPod. But, this probably depends on how you listen to stuff, because I mostly listen in transit or at work, and in both cases, I have a connection.

I use my ipod in my car, because the ipod interfaces with my headunit. This way i can browse my ipod on my car's stereo and with my steering wheel controls instead of having to use my phone or handheld device while i'm driving. I do have an AUX jack as well and will use it for pandora on my phone, but i usually use the former.

A few question for you, laura:

Do you have to use some proprietary playback software to listen to your music, on your phone or on your home computer?

I'm assuming since you're running the droidx that you have a grandfathered verizon contract with unlimited data. How will this service effect data capped plans? Every time you play a song does it charge the size of the song to your data plan?

Will it let you upload FLAC files? Or does it only allow MP3?

Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:11 pm

Asterax

Joined: 21 Nov 2002
Posts: 1883
Location: Maine

futuristxen wrote: “In 2011, more than half of computing devices sold globally will not be PCs,” the report (PDF) indicates. “While PC sales are likely to reach almost 400 million units, Deloitte’s estimate for combined sales of smartphones, tablets and non-PC netbooks is well over that amount.”

So yeah. You may think this shit isn't coming, and that things are going to stay the same as they are. But the future is you can do the computer thing from anywhere at anytime, and you won't be chained down to a desk at your house for it.

I am not disagreeing with you that PCs may transition into tablet devices, but that PCs will be replaced by cloud computing. If you had meant that all along, you should have worded your previous post better. This saves me from arguing the fact that cloud computing will most likely become a more popular option for a certain demographic within the United States, but not something that will replace the PC in most American households.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:21 pm

redball

Joined: 12 May 2006
Posts: 6877
Location: Northern New Jersey

I think cloud computing will become integral to the PC experience. It will do that as mobile devices become what we use instead of computers. Though smartphones are the next laptop we'll still have keyboards because touchscreen interfaces are not as efficient. At the very least, we'll have dual screen devices that that will be used in the same way that laptops are now, with a virtual keyboard on the lower screen in comfortable typing position while the upper screen is available for viewing. Think of it as if an iPad mated with a Nintendo DS.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:29 pm

Bicycle

Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 413

I imagine this will lead to even more people bumpin' the freshest hits through their shitty little phone speakers. Thats always a good thing

Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:34 pm

laurapalmer

Joined: 10 Jul 2002
Posts: 1477

squirtisblow wrote:

A few question for you, laura:

Do you have to use some proprietary playback software to listen to your music, on your phone or on your home computer?

I'm assuming since you're running the droidx that you have a grandfathered verizon contract with unlimited data. How will this service effect data capped plans? Every time you play a song does it charge the size of the song to your data plan?

Will it let you upload FLAC files? Or does it only allow MP3?

For music, you can upload AAC or MP3, must be drm free. Much like an ipod, if you want to hear a flac file, you are converting it first.

Correct on the Verizon front. Unlimited plan from the original droid, got the droid x as a replacement when my droid was smashed up. I have no details on usage, but I would assume it would run up data much like a pandora runs it up.

As for the playback. Depends. You can use their Cloud Player which will run through any audio files you have uploaded and play it back on your computer or on your phone. You can also download your files and run them through whatever: winamp, wmp, vlc, etc. The service is really the file storage bit, the player is kind of window dressing.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:44 pm

squirtisblow

Joined: 12 Mar 2003
Posts: 1589
Location: SFV

laurapalmer wrote:

squirtisblow wrote:

A few question for you, laura:

Do you have to use some proprietary playback software to listen to your music, on your phone or on your home computer?

I'm assuming since you're running the droidx that you have a grandfathered verizon contract with unlimited data. How will this service effect data capped plans? Every time you play a song does it charge the size of the song to your data plan?

Will it let you upload FLAC files? Or does it only allow MP3?

For music, you can upload AAC or MP3, must be drm free. Much like an ipod, if you want to hear a flac file, you are converting it first.

Correct on the Verizon front. Unlimited plan from the original droid, got the droid x as a replacement when my droid was smashed up. I have no details on usage, but I would assume it would run up data much like a pandora runs it up.

As for the playback. Depends. You can use their Cloud Player which will run through any audio files you have uploaded and play it back on your computer or on your phone. You can also download your files and run them through whatever: winamp, wmp, vlc, etc. The service is really the file storage bit, the player is kind of window dressing.

Thanks for the answers. That sucks about Flac.... I guess you could just keep a few of those on your local storage.

The best thing i learned here is if my droid is messed up i could get a droid x as a replacement. haha. My droid's outside speaker is fucked and the year factory warranty is just past its year. i do pay the monthly insurance fee, though. I wonder if they'll replace it...

Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:51 pm

laurapalmer

Joined: 10 Jul 2002
Posts: 1477

squirtisblow wrote:

Thanks for the answers. That sucks about Flac.... I guess you could just keep a few of those on your local storage.

The best thing i learned here is if my droid is messed up i could get a droid x as a replacement. haha. My droid's outside speaker is fucked and the year factory warranty is just past its year. i do pay the monthly insurance fee, though. I wonder if they'll replace it...

I had insurance through best buy (shithole), but they did give me a new phone when it was clearly me dropping the thing that fucked it up. As the droid isn't around anymore, i had my choice of the droid 2, droid x or any comparably priced phone, which they decided could be up to 599, although i never paid that amount.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:54 pm

Eric B

Joined: 30 May 2005
Posts: 1327
Location: Omaha, Ne

futuristxen wrote: “In 2011, more than half of computing devices sold globally will not be PCs,” the report (PDF) indicates. “While PC sales are likely to reach almost 400 million units, Deloitte’s estimate for combined sales of smartphones, tablets and non-PC netbooks is well over that amount.”

So yeah. You may think this shit isn't coming, and that things are going to stay the same as they are. But the future is you can do the computer thing from anywhere at anytime, and you won't be chained down to a desk at your house for it.

That's because the market is already saturated with PC's. I don't know the actual numbers, but maybe 75% of households have a PC. And maybe 10% of households have a smart phone. So of course smartphones will be the big seller until they reach market saturation.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:55 pm

Asterax

Joined: 21 Nov 2002
Posts: 1883
Location: Maine

redball wrote: I think cloud computing will become integral to the PC experience. It will do that as mobile devices become what we use instead of computers.

Cloud computing is not only incredibly useful (I use it daily), but it is becoming the basis for a lot of new technologies and features. I am only playing devil's advocate.

However, I still argue it won't become a dominant fixture on every PC for every household in the United States simply due to the lack of universal broadband. I'd be more convinced of cloud computing's accessibility to all Americans when universal broadband access is also an integral part of the PC experience.

Also as we've discussed in a previous tech thread: true backup requires multiple mediums (three is ideal). There is certainly a case to be made that keeping a local backup is essential for when data is accidentally erased on the servers hosting your data.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:42 pm

futuristxen

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 19377
Location: Tighten Your Bible Belt

Eric B wrote:

futuristxen wrote: “In 2011, more than half of computing devices sold globally will not be PCs,” the report (PDF) indicates. “While PC sales are likely to reach almost 400 million units, Deloitte’s estimate for combined sales of smartphones, tablets and non-PC netbooks is well over that amount.”

So yeah. You may think this shit isn't coming, and that things are going to stay the same as they are. But the future is you can do the computer thing from anywhere at anytime, and you won't be chained down to a desk at your house for it.

That's because the market is already saturated with PC's. I don't know the actual numbers, but maybe 75% of households have a PC. And maybe 10% of households have a smart phone. So of course smartphones will be the big seller until they reach market saturation.

Not really "of course" since it's the first time it's ever happened. Change is coming. If everything is the cloud--what is a home computer?

It would be more efficient eventually, to just have the home computer be like a terrabyte brick that backs up everything on your portion of the cloud or something.

Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:38 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7839

computers are used for much more than viewing the internet and downloading music

computers will stay

maybe the majority wont have them anymore, not the ones thats use them for more than the above

they will always be here

Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:57 pm

futuristxen

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 19377
Location: Tighten Your Bible Belt

Well I'm not sure I'll trust the futuristic pessimism of a board that never thought twitter would take off...good call on that one guys.

Most of the futurists/cyborg people I'm following seem to be indicating that the personal PC is quick becoming something of a dinosaur. The thing now seems to be integration of all of these computing processes into the motion of our lives.

And really if you look at the the trajectory of the computer, they keep getting smaller--why do you think that is? It's because our idea for this is the computer you don't have to stop and use. We're trying to streamline and speed up our information processing. If you are bolted to a desk or to sitting down, you can only recieve information from others. The future is that we will be interacting with living information in a real tactile way. In the next 50 years once we've uploaded everything into the cloud, the cloud descends down into us and we live in the cloud in a sense. Seems radical to think about that step of evolution as a species--but the technology for all of this is already here. We're just putting the puzzle pieces together.

Fuck man, look at the 3DS that came out this week with augmented reality games. That's preparing the next generation for how it's going to be.

We're learning a new way to break down and use the world around us. In the future just looking at a building in a glance and you will be illuminated with the history and context of that building within an infinte number of iterations.

We're becoming gods.

The fascinating thing is that a lot of these trends line up with a lot of the predominant creation/apolapse mythologies throughout the world. The idea of where were are going is implanted in our DNA--in the back alley of our brains.

We're still evolving. And I have to think from where I stand looking at it--big changes are coming sooner than they are later.

If you went into the future our lifetimes, you would find our species unrecognizable from how you now know it.

Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:12 am

Disharmony

Joined: 01 Jun 2003
Posts: 3032
Location: Buried in Minnesota dirt.

This is all fine and dandy I guess. It's too bad phone connections can be so shitty when in transit. I'd hate to be listening to something and have it cut out because I hit a dead zone. Also, this will be pretty expensive for a long time. Phone plans are already ridiculous in my opinion.

When they come out with an MP3 player that is a few terabytes there will be no use for these web/connection based music playing programs. I doubt anyone would have enough MP3s to fill a portable non connection based player. Backups are easier than ever now with removable hard drives....why pay a monthly fee to store your music?

Also Futur, just because something gets popular....doesn't make it worthwhile. It's to each their own. I couldn't be less interested in that twitter nonsense.

Battery issues should be a thing in the past though. I heard a battery is in development that can be recharged in under a minute. It's only a matter of time before long charge times are a thing of the past.